Let Go to Grow

by Joan Friedlander

Entrepreneurs and consultants who fail to allocate and delegate appropriately spend HOURS on activities and projects that drain their energy. They lose their creative edge; they can become frustrated and downright grouchy. Ultimately, by hanging onto tasks, people and projects that no longer fit, they hinder their ability to grow, both personally and professionally.

It's interesting that though you may actually "know" you need to delegate (or eliminate) a task, or discontinue your affiliation with a person or organization, there's often a significant gap between knowing and taking action. There's always a reason, but it seems to have little to do with reason.

How do you know if you are holding onto things you need to eliminate or delegate?

• Are you working 10 or more hours a day and starting the next day feeling exhausted and behind?
• Do you carry your to-do list forward day after day after day, feeling more and more weighed down by what you're not getting done?
• Do you collapse on your day off - if you take one - with little energy to do anything fun?
• Do you have some great ideas for new projects but keep putting them off?
• Are you spending time on something you could pay someone else to do for $30-60 an hour, that you could then bill a client for double that or more in exchange for your expertise?

If you answered yes to any of these, you may be hanging on to something you no longer need in order to avoid something else, something that stretches you in new ways.

Consider this woman's dilemma: She has plans for a new business venture which she's really excited about. At some point she (arbitrarily) decided she couldn't pursue it until she finished updating her Web site for her coaching business. However, she kept putting off the Web site changes and therefore, the pursuit of this new business.

It turns out that though she was excited about this new venture, its success might mean dissolving her coaching practice, which caused her some discomfort. And so this simple two or three hour project to update her Web site became a smoke screen to keep her from dealing with the implications of pursuing her next venture. Upon realizing this, she scheduled the time to work on her Web site and to work on her new project. One was no longer dependent on the other.

Growth can be incredibly uncomfortable. Habits, people and things we enjoy create a feeling of security and comfort. Growth disrupts the comfort. Entrepreneurs are said to enjoy risk, but heck, we're human too.
Be suspicious if you hear yourself saying:

I'll get to that when I'm finished with _____________________.

I know I should, but ____________________________.

I would if it weren't for _______________________, I'd ________________.

Listen to yourself over the next couple of weeks, listen to what you say and see if you're NOT doing something that you are blaming on something else. If you've ever written up a long-term dream list, take it out now and review it. What haven't you pursued yet? What are you doing now that's not even on that list? Is it time to take it off? What can you turn over to someone else so that you have more time for those things that truly light up your life and contribute to your bottom line, both financially and spiritually?

Check out the Delegation Planning Kit

If you realize you need to delegate, but just can't figure out how to go about it, or have a paralyzing afraid of letting others get some of the work done, you'll love the Delegation Planning Kit.

 

by Joan Friedlander, © 2005. All rights reserved.